Council budget: time for a ‘grown-up debate’

Edinburgh Greens propose small council tax rise to improve council services and combat cuts

Green councillors in Edinburgh are proposing a small council tax rise to raise £10m to invest in services. They believe that combatting cuts in schools, social care and vulnerable children services should be the capital’s priority.

Green councillors in Edinburgh are proposing a 4.3% council tax rise for next year: equivalent to an extra 97p a week for the average Band D property.

The council tax rise, which is backed by 63% of respondents to the council’s budget consultation, would still leave the council having to make significant efficiencies and savings, but, according to the Greens, it would head off the worst cuts.

The £10m package includes

– Retaining a properly-funded school music service
– Blocking cuts to special schools and disadvantaged children
– Keeping budgets for social care for frail older people
– Supporting community centres, libraries and leisure centres.

The additional money would also allow the Council to recruit and keep more care workers to bridge a gap of 5,000 unmet care hours a week. And it would see a substantial investment in long term repair and maintenance of schools.

The proposals are outlined in a blog published today by Green Finance spokesperson Councillor Gavin Corbett, ahead of the council budget meeting this Thursday (21 January).

Cllr Corbett said: “This year’s budget round is by far the toughest since devolution in 1999, with the city council looking down the barrel of £85m worth of cuts. That includes cuts to schools, libraries, swimming pools, social care and community centres.

“That is why almost two-thirds of people responding to the council’s budget consultation backed a council tax rise. I agree with them and I am proposing 97p extra a week to reverse all of the worst cuts and also help tackle to mounting crisis in social care.

“So I believe the city council owes to it to the people of Edinburgh to have a proper grown-up debate about the right balance between new income and spending. To shrink away from that debate, to meekly accept whatever cuts central governments dole out is to infantilise the capital city, to impoverish vital services and to simply store up yet greater problems for the future.

“Let’s have that grown-up debate.”

Edinburgh currently has five Green councillors on a council that is dominated by Labour (21) and the SNP (17) so it would be a major surprise (i.e. there’s next to no chance) if the Green proposals were to be adopted.

When city councillors set Edinburgh’s budget on Thursday it’s expected that the Labour-SNP Capital Coalition will vote through budget cuts of £85 million. Up to 2000 jobs will be lost in what public services trade union Unison describes as ‘the worst cuts in living memory’.

You can find the Edinburgh Greens blog on the budget at
http://www.edinburghgreens.org.uk/site/councillors/budget-2016/

Letters: False economy of funding cuts

Dear Editor

Cuts in funding local authority services are happening again this year and will affect every person in varying degrees and add to the contraction in public services: services that are necessary and needed.

There are also other services provided daily by other organisations, mostly run by volunteers with some financial help from the council: these too are facing drastic cuts. Day Care clubs, lifelong learning and literacy classes, mentla health support,, befriending, support and information services, classes of all kinds and -very importantly – community transport to and from activities.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are helped out of isolation every week with all the benefit – both mental and physical – stemming from these services. Curtailing existing funding to these organisations is not only false economy but will see a deterioration in the health of those people affected, causing a far greater expenditure in other health and care costs.

The councils must rethink their attitude to these services – and, above all, their attitude to PEOPLE.

A. Delahoy, Silverknowes Gardens

Letters: a community response to Edinburgh’s Budget Challenge

On the final day for comments on the city council’s budget proposals, local Power to the People group made the following submission:

Dear Gillian Tee

Members of North Edinburgh Power to the People group have prepared the following response to Edinburgh’s Budget Challenge. We would like to begin by saying that we welcome Edinburgh Partnership’s commitment to engagement and its acknowledgement that “the Partnership’s vision can only be fulfilled by involving people and communities in decisions that affect them”. We would like to point out however that consultation processes must be conducted in ways which the community finds meaningful and which take place within a realistic timescale.

We felt that the online consultation process was an unacceptable way to engage with local communities on such serious matters. We believe we have the right to be actively engaged in decision making processes and that there should be opportunities for people in local communities to come together to discuss and respond to these issues collectively.

We are unhappy that the Council has chosen yet again to conduct a major consultation exercise in the run up to the Christmas holidays. The last set of proposals were only made public at the end of November. We would also like to point out that being allowed to decide what cuts we want to make to our local services is not community empowerment.

We believe that the majority of people in Edinburgh are not aware of the seriousness of the crisis facing the Council and do not appreciate the impact these proposals will have on essential public services.

The proposals are very vague and lack the necessary detail in order to make informed decisions. If the Council genuinely want to hear people’s views, more detailed information is required which should be presented in an accessible manner.

With regard to the recommendations relating to Community Learning and Development, it is our belief that the reductions in budgets and staffing will undermine universal provision and will result in the privatisation of many important services. We also feel that the loss of provision which will result from the cuts will have a greater impact on more disadvantaged communities such as ours where people are already experiencing significant hardship as a result of the present Government’s welfare reforms.

We would like to draw your attention to Edinburgh People’s Survey which highlights a high level of dissatisfaction among residents in the Forth Ward. These findings would suggest that more resources should be allocated to our area not less.

Most of our members are retired and we are concerned that CLD’s work with adults does not appear to be a priority despite this being a priority of the Scottish Government and the Council. Cuts to workers, grants and changes to funding criteria will make Adult Education and Community Capacity Building work almost impossible. These proposals do not take into account the needs of local people ie where they live, their ability to access services, what they want to learn about and get involved in. This undermines universal provision, reduces choices for certain groups who are not seen as a priority and goes against community empowerment.

We believe education (for adults as well as children) is an investment.

It achieves better outcomes for individuals, families and communities. Reducing the opportunities for adults to get involved in learning opportunities is short sighted and will have a negative impact on people’s life chances in poorer communities We would like to remind you about the Scottish Government’s pledge concerning Adult Education. Their Statement of Ambition recommends the Adult Learning should be Learning centred, Lifelong and Lifewide. The Statement of Ambition also recommends that “Every adult in Scotland will have the right to access learning to meet their educational needs and their aspirations”. We look forward to receiving your assurances that the Capital Coalition are committed to delivering this pledge.

Members of our group are all actively involved in either managing community centres, helping to develop or participate in the provision which takes place in centres.

We therefore feel qualified to make the following comments in relation to the impact of the proposals on our centres:

Our community centres in North Edinburgh serve a very large population. We feel strongly that work needs to be done to bring more people into our centres and to encourage and develop community involvement. We need more resources to do this effectively not less.

Our community centres provide valuable meeting spaces for the community to get together. Valuable community space will be lost if centres become stuffed full of organisations and agencies who are competing for the same space.

Centres play an important role in prevention and early intervention and not just in relation to children. They contribute to the health and well being of adults by reducing social isolation, providing opportunities for people to get involved, to socialise and develop networks and friendships.

Centres also play an important role in helping to promote community integration and cohesion. They provide a safe space for new people who move into the area to come to and to integrate and feel a sense of belonging. We are actively involved in developing areas of work which we hope will help to promote multi-cultural understanding and intergenerational work.

Properly managed and adequately staffed centres, which are accessible to all sections of the community, provide significant social and financial benefits to the Council. Community centres should be seen as an important asset not a liability.

We would like make the following recommendations as an alternative to the budget savings being proposed by Council officers:

The extension to the tramline should not proceed until the findings of the Inquiry into the tram fiasco has been published and lessons learned.
Councillors and officials should renegotiate the loan deal which is costing the city millions of pounds in interest payments which could be spent on our public services. The public should be told why this has not happened to date.
A Tourist Tax should be introduced in the city which would raise a significant amount of income which could be used to subsidise local services.
We understand that 25% of secondary school pupils in Edinburgh attend private schools. We believe that these schools should not have charitable status and be subsidised by the tax payer. It is our view that private schools should pay the same taxes and rates as our state schools.
Representatives from the Capital Coalition should make strong representations to the Scottish Government to abolish the council tax and replace it with a fairer and more progressive tax which will enable local authorities to generate the necessary income to fund essential public services.
Representatives from the Capital Coalition should work with Scottish Government Ministers to make the case for a debt repayment holiday to ease the immediate financial burden on the city. Our politicians should also be making the case for local authorities to keep more of the cash they raise through local taxes.
It is our view that a redistribution of wealth is required in order to address poverty and inequality in our communities and to ensure that public services are properly funded and available to all our citizens.

We look forward to hearing from you at the earliest opportunity.

Yours sincerely

Anna Hutchinson, Linda Garcia and Cathy Ahmed

On behalf of North Edinburgh’s Power to the People Group

Devastation: charities fear impact of slashed Lottery funding

‘A significant cut to lottery funding, coupled with increased demand from people affected by welfare cuts and unemployment would represent a perfect storm for many Scottish charities’ – SallyAnn Kelly, Aberlour Trust. Continue reading Devastation: charities fear impact of slashed Lottery funding

Letters: Saving our public services

Dear Editor

Local authorities are elected to operate a wide variety of services in their areas, services that keep the community functioning. The trend now is to cut back on what is thought not to be necessary, to offload some to private contractors or to get the community itself to be the provider. Continue reading Letters: Saving our public services

Breakthrough? UNISON postpones lobby of crunch finance meeting

‘Our mandate from our members remains. Industrial action remains a real possibility in the event of compulsory redundancies.’ – UNISON lead negotiator Tom Connolly

UNISON has postponed its lobby of Edinburgh Council’s Finance and Resources Committee tomorrow following assurances from senior councillors that privatisation plans will be dropped and redundancies delayed for further talks.

Amanda Kerr, Edinburgh UNISON branch secretary, said: “Following concerted UNISON pressure, we welcome this re-think and the dropping of privatisation plans. We also welcome the delay on redundancies, however we still have a long way to go and we will be building for a lobby of the next Finance and Resources Committee on 29 October.

“Our campaign has brought this to the public eye and that campaign will continue. We warned that the level of cuts envisaged would be devastating for services. After years and years of cut after cut, no council can sustain even more massive cuts.”

Lead negotiator Tom Connolly added: “This is an important victory. The damage privatisation would have caused cannot be overestimated. The union will focus on protecting jobs and conditions, engaging with our members and building towards the lobby on 29 October. Our mandate from our members remains. Industrial action remains a real possibility in the event of compulsory redundancies.”

Last week, UNISON warned that up to 3000 jobs could be lost as the council aims to balance it’s books, and councillors are set to consider a number of key proposals to address a £126m budget shortfall over the next four years at tomorrow’s meeting.

Councillor Alasdair Rankin, Finance Convener, said: “We are very clear about the scale of the financial challenge that the Council is facing. The Council is experiencing greater demand for services than ever before, with a growing population in Edinburgh and increasing numbers of older people and younger people, while our overall budget remains the same.

“We need to take action in order to achieve the necessary savings to meet this demand, and we are making every effort to do this in a way that will safeguard frontline services for the people of Edinburgh.

“We want to invest in the services that are important to the public but must also look to rationalise our spending where appropriate. We recognise that some of these proposals may involve tough decisions, including a reduction in Council jobs, particularly in middle management. But while this won’t to be easy, savings will allow us to prioritise the things that matter most to people.

“Our aim, as ever, is to improve and enhance the city for residents, and this package of measures is the next step to achieving this. Councillors will consider these proposals and we are looking forward to the discussions. ”

Budget cuts could be avoided, say Edinburgh Greens

‘residents are well aware of the cuts that come from the council tax freeze and general reduction in council funding’ – Cllr Gavin Corbett

Budget cuts of £28.5 million could be avoided if Edinburgh had similar powers to councils elsewhere in the UK and Europe, according to the capital’s six-strong group of Green councillors. The city council sets it’s budget tomorrow and councillors look likely to approve swathing cuts to public services.

The Greens have published an alternative budget paper which shows how £25.7 million of extra income could be raised by giving the council modest extra powers such as a visitor levy and greater flexibility with council tax.

This, say the Greens, would mean extra priority for care for older people, funding for charities and community learning as well as new investment in school conditions and sports facilities.

Green Finance Spokesperson Cllr Gavin Corbett said: “Less than a year ago the Commission for Local Democracy showed that, across Europe, councils with comparable responsibilities to Edinburgh typically control 50-60% of their income, through local taxes and charges.

“In Edinburgh, those powers have been reduced to almost nothing, with dire consequences for local services. Indeed, the council’s biggest-ever budget consultation exercise showed that residents are well aware of the cuts that come from the council tax freeze and general reduction in council funding.

“So what I propose today is modest and affordable – less than 4% of overall spending – asking for the right to put to Edinburgh residents a choice to raising a bit more income in order to strengthen budgets for swimming pools, care services, community centres, homelessness charities and schools.

“I’m confident that, given that choice, investment in services would come ahead of an austerity-driven race to the bottom.”

The City of Edinburgh Council budget is set on 12 February 2015. A package of £28.5 million of cuts or savings has been proposed from a £962 million budget. Of the£28.5 million package, £5.2 million non-frontline cuts have already been approved last October.

Services under threat include:

– £4.3 million cut to charities and other third-party service providers

– Over £5 million cut to health and social care at a time of increasing demand

– £1.4 million cut to Edinburgh Leisure which runs swimming pools and sports facilities.

– £0.6 million cut to community learning and development

Other likely cuts include the closure of public toilets, reduction in library hours, nursery and childcare funding.

Agenda_of_12_February_2015

Fighting the cuts

Edinburgh Anti-Cuts Alliance meets this morning

10am Saturday 17 January

Augustine Church, 41 George IV Bridge

Following on from the large public meeting on 27 November this organising meeting aims to bring together activists to plan a campaign against the cuts to vital services being made by Edinburgh Council.

The Council is proposing cuts of £22m for 2015/16, as part of a three-year strategy that will inflict further cuts of £55m and £77m in the next two financial years. This will significantly damage services for those most in need and will be resisted. All welcome.

Edinburgh Anti-Cuts Alliance (EACA) seeks to bring Edinburgh’s local anti-cuts groups together with trade unions, service-users’ groups and individuals to organise on a City-wide basis against public sector cuts, privatisation and welfare reform.

We are not affiliated to any political party and our meetings are open to all.

Council makes BOLD case for ‘transformation and cost savings’

Restructure aims to deliver a ‘leaner, more agile council’

Detailed proposals have been unveiled to make Council services more efficient and customer focused, while addressing a budget gap of £67 million over the next three years.

As one of fastest growing local authority areas in Scotland, Edinburgh is facing an ever increasing demand for Council services, while the funds available to meet this demand are set to stay the same over the next few years.

The proposals follow a blueprint for the future organisation of the Council which was agreed in December 2014, subject to consultation. This report highlighted key areas where future cost savings and service improvements could be achieved. They included: improved neighbourhood and locality working; a more efficient corporate centre; improvements to the way the Council interacts with residents (Channel Shift); working with third sector partnerships and managing Council property effectively (property rationalisation).

The Council has an agreed pledge of no compulsory redundancies and it is envisaged that some reduction in roles will be addressed through natural turnover of staff.

The Council will also look to improve its approach to how staff are redeployed across different service areas, engaging and consulting with employees and Trades Unions as appropriate during this process.

Finance Convener, Councillor Alasdair Rankin (pictured above), said: “The Council needs to take significant steps to tackle the financial challenges it faces as demand for our services continues to increase. At the same time, we want to make services for residents more efficient and effective.

“We set the direction of travel last month when Council agreed proposals for a new organisational structure, enabling more effective decision making at neighbourhood level and improved partnership working with third sector organisations. We are now considering detailed proposals around this and how we plan to improve the way we interact with residents.

“We believe these priority areas for change will enable us to achieve service improvements as well as cost savings. Of course change on this scale brings challenges but we need to take decisive action now to meet our targets and create a stronger, leaner, more agile Council to better serve the people of Edinburgh.”

The latest proposals will be considered by the Finance and Resources Committee on Thursday 15 January. Further detail on proposals around Council property and workforce controls will be provided in the Spring.

Letter: bearing the burden

Dear Editor

When Chancellor Osborne made his autumn statement I believe he did his best to confuse most people with his ‘percentages of this and percentages of that’ but he did make one thing perfectly clear: the cost of closing the deficit will continue to be passed on to the working population by cutting public services and benefits, holding down wages below inflation and telling people to work harder and longer.

THe crisis we are in was cused by financial institutions, speculators and banks worldwide, but of course the blame is put on to others: stories are being repeated over and over again to get people to accept them as truths. First the Labour government was to blame, then it was the scroungers, the work-shy, the disabled, people living longer, families having one bedroom too many – all of these stories designed to set once section of society against another, enabling crippling policies to be imposed on all whilst constantly repeating: ‘it’s the only way’, ‘it is in the national interest’ and ‘we are all in this together’.

It is the classic Tory approach of divide and rule, enabling them to impose drastic cuts on 90% of the population; I say 90% because the top wealthy 10% are not affected or bothered.

If money was borrowed creating a deficit that has to be repaid, from whom was it borrowed? At what interest rate was it borrowed? Was it at a fixed rate or was money lenders’ method used? We need to know, but whatever the answers there is no need to inflict such damage on people’s lives – with promises of more to come.

The 90% of the population didn’t create the problem but are being made to bear the burden.

A. Delahoy

Silverknowes Gardens